Shore hardness measurements subject rubber bodies to standardized indentations. While easily performed, the measurements are subject to uncertainties. Although typical variances for Shore hardness are found in standards, operator and instrument effects are not well described, requiring statistically designed experiments to estimate effects and variance components. This paper focuses on uncertainty in Shore A hardness measurements of tyre tread elements and quantifies operator and instrument effects. Evaluation of uncertainty of Shore A measurements were performed on tyres under controlled conditions using three instruments, two tyres and five operators. Results show that the operator variance component and instrument effects are larger than the reference variance contribution in ISO 11819-3:2017. The interaction between operator and instrument is estimated to be the largest source of variation, while operator and instrument main effects are of similar size as the error component. Recommendations to reduce uncertainties include ignoring instantaneous values and requiring an instrument stand. © 2020 The Author(s)